TT 


Qaitt? 

Qatrtnl 


By     A.     OUTRAM     SHERMAN 


C-f 


THOMAS    PAINE 

THE  PATRIOT 


H 


AN  ADDRESS  BY 

A.  OUTRAM  SHERMAN 


'Delivered   before 

T  HE  HUGUENOT  SOCIETY  OF  NEW  ROCHELLE,  N.  Y. 

At  the  Opening  of  the  Paine  House  July  14,  1910 

PRICE  20  CENTS 


Special  Library  Edition  printed  for  the  Thmnux  r,,i,,,-  .\,(tin,,,tl  llixtoriru!.  ,v-«vvr// 
120  Lexington  Avenue,  Ne\v  York  City 


Westchester    Press,    Publishers 
Rye,    N.    Y. 


•:  •*''        '.*•:•: :   • 


THOMAS  PAINE,  THE  PATRIOT 

g  PATRIOT  is  defined  as  one  who  loves  his  country, 
and  the  distinction  has  been  generally  won  by  those 
who.  have  borne  arms  and  risked  life,  liberty  and 
property  for  such  a  noble  sentiment.  All  this  Thomas 
Paine  did,  and  more;  he  not  only  risked  but  suffered  in  life  and 
liberty  and  gave  his  property  without  stint.  The  common  vir- 
tue of  physical  bravery  was  his  also  but  he  counted  as  trifling 
and  ordinary  duty  his  acts  of  bravery  while  bearing  arms.  As 
his  heroism  was  more  complete,  more  glorious,  his  patriotism 
was  broader,  deeper,  more  intense, — great  as  his  country,  whic 
was  the  world. f  He  fought  the  battles  of  mankind  with  his 
mighty  pen.  Wherever  tyranny  and  oppression  stood  against 
liberty,  justice,  and  the  rights  of  man,  he  advanced  with  his 
potent  weapon,  not  from  security  nor  by  stealth  but  in  the  open 
where  the  vengeance  of  the  mighty  sought  ever  to  tear  him 
down.  England's  proud  navy  ploughed  up  and  down  the  ocean 
in  impotent  rage  for"  years  with  the  one  object  of  capturing 
this  man  who  had  made  her  king  tremble  on  his  throne.  Paine's 
life-long  friend  and  patron  who  introduced  him  to  America  was 
the  great  patriot — Benjamin  Franklin — who  loved  America  be- 
cause here  he  had  won  recognition,  honor  and  advancement  in 
life,  but  Paine  came  to  her  while  she  was  in  distress,  he  owed 
her  nothing,  but  her  misery  roused  his  love.  Franklin  said  to 
him:  "Where  liberty  is,  there  is  my  country."  Paine  replied: 
V  "\Yhere  liberty  is  not,  there  is  mine,"  and  his  whole  life  proves 
he  spoke  truly.  "Perhaps  America  would  feel  the  less  obliga- 
tion to  me,"  he  said,  "did  she  know  that  it  was  neither  the  place 
nor  the  people  but  the  cause  itself  that  irresistibly  engaged  me 
in  its  support;  for  I  should  have  acted  the  same  part  in  any 
other  country  could  the  same  circumstances  have  arisen  there 
which  have  happened  here."  This  declaration  he  made  before 
he  had  finished  his  service  for  American  independence;  he 

3 

264771 


proved  that  it  was  ho  idle  boast  for  thereafter  he  aroused  Eng- 
land "through  the  channels  of  the  press,"  which  he  declared  to 
he  "the  tongue  of  the  world,"  by  his  Rights  of  Man.  France, 
however,  became  aflame  for  liberty  and  thither  he  rushed  to 
fan  the  fire  that  already  burned  too  fast  and  soon  consumed 
friends  and  foes  alike  and  in  its  fury  nearly  annihiliated  him. 

But  this  wonderful  man,  seemed  never  to  allow  injury  to 
hmiself  to  'stay  his  efforts  to  accomplish  M^-aioU  which  was 
to  thwart  tyranny  and  oppression  in  every  direction  and  to 
/establish  the  principles  of  human  liberty  and  progress.  To 
/spread  knowledge  of  such  principles  was  his  great  object.  "Ig- 
norance is  of  a  peculiar  nature;"  he  wrote  "once*  dispelled  it  is 
impossible  to  re-establish  it.  It  is  not  originally  a  thing  of  it- 
self, but  is  only  the  absence  of  knowledge,  and  though  a  man 
may  be  kept  ignorant,  he  cannot  be  made  ignorant.  *  *  There 
does  not  exist  in  the  compass  of  language  an  arrangement  of 
words  to  express  so  much  as  the '  means  of  effecting  *  *  an 
obliteration  of  knowledge,  and  it  has  never  yet  been  discovered 
how  to  make  a  man  unknow  his  knowledge,  or  unthink  his 
thoughts.  *  *  Already  the  conviction  that  government  by  repre- 
sentation k  trie  true  system  of  government  is  spreading  itself 
fast  in  the  world,"  he  declared  as  he  prepared  to  leave  France, 
ind  wrote:  <^An  army  of  principles  will  penetrate  where  an 
army  of  soldiers  cannot!  it  will  succeed  where  diplomatic  man- 
agement would  fail;  ifis  neither  the  Rhine,  the  Channel  nor 
the  ocean  that  can  arrest  its  progress;  it  will  march  on  the 
horizon  of  the  world,  and  it  will  conquer." 

I  will  strive  to  show,  briefly,  as  I  must,  how  Paine  mar- 
shalled such  an  army;  how  he  armed  it  with  unanswerable  argu- 
ments ;  how  he  lead  it  in  attack  against  entrenched  and  forti- 
fied error;  how,  with  the  sword  of  sarcasm,  the  dagger  of  ridi- 
v£ule,  the  poniard  of  wit  he  hurled  his  army  against  established 
oppression  and  hereditary  rule,  how  his  principles  conquered 
and  how  they  penetrated,  as  he  declared  they  would,  into  every 
land;»how  his  army  is  still  marching  on,  and  how  today  it  has 
reached,  as  he  prophesied,  the  horizon  of  the  world,- — for  China 
is  now  considering  a  constitutional  government,  the  establish- 
ment of  which  by  all  mankind,  it  was  Paine's  first  and  life-long 
endeavor  to  promote. 

It  will  be  possible  in  this  short  paper  to  mention,  only  in 


the  briefest  manner,    the    many    achievements    of  "Paine  the 
patriot"  and  if  I  can  rouse  your  interest  enough  to  lead  you 
to  read  his  life,  as  written  by  the  late  historian  Moncure  D. 
Conway,  I  shall  be  well  satisfied.     That  scholarly  and  impartial 
book  will  give  you  an  entirely  different  idea  of  the  man,  con- 
cerning whom  the  author  writes: '"The  educated  ignorance  is    ^/ 
astounding."     Paine's  relentless  attacks  upon  old  authorities  in    /\ 
power,  and  officials  that  he  thought  in  the  \vrong  brought  him 
most  powerful  enemies  who  found  ready  agents  in  his  religious^ 
opponents  to  revenge  them  upon  his  memory;  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, between  whom  and  Paine  there  wras  an  unbroken  mutual 
admiration,  said  that  Paine's  political  enemies  were  his  bitter- 

The  first  life  of  Thomas  Paine  to  appear  after  his  death  \ 
was  written  by  a  man,  who  was  defendant  in  a  suit  for  libel 
brought  by  Paine  against  him  and  which  was  pending  at  the 
time  of  Paine's  death.  This  book,  in  the  main  a  barefaced 
falsehood,  most  cunningly,  most  cruelly  concocted  to  blight  his 
fame  has  been  quoted  and  copied  into  histories.  Deeds  of 
charity  and  noble  self-denial  are  therein  made  to  appear  crimes. 
Here  in  our  county  Bolton,  the  historian  of  Paige's  last  home 
community,  mentions  with  a  sneer  an  act  of  Paine's  which  if 
truly  stated  was  more  than  what  Christ  described  as :  "Greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for 
his  friends."  Warned  of  his  danger;  told  it  would  mean  his 
death,  conscious  of  the  guillotine's  incessant  falling  on  victim 
after  victim  guilty  of  nothing  but  of  incurring  Robespierre's 
anger,  in  the  presence  of  that  murderer  and  the  blood-thirsty 
crew  of  the  French  convention  in  uproar,  demanding  Louis 
XVTs  head,  Thomas  Paine  thus  offers  his  life  not  for  his  own 
friend  but  for  the  friend  of  our  country  by  opposing  the  death 
of  Louis.  "Ah,  Citizens,  give  not  the  tyrant  of  England,"  he 
said,  "the  triumph  of  seeing  the  man  perish  on  the  scaffold 
who  had  aided  my  much-loved  America  to  break  his  chains!'' 
Friends  and  neighbors — all  that  your  children  have  been 
told  of  this  act  of  almost  sublime  nobility,  by  a  resident  of  this 
town  and  county,  in  our  local  history  is  this :  "He  was  a  com- 
panion of  the  detested  Robespierre  and  was  on  the  trial  of  the 
innocent  Louis  XVI."  As  well,  as  truthfully,  as  fairly  say, 
"Washington  was  a  companion  of  the  traitor  Benedict  Arnold 
and  was  connected  with  the  trial  of  the  unfortunate  Andre." 


THOMAS    PAINE. 


Thomas  Paine  was  born  in  Thetford,  England,  January  27, 
1737,  of  Quaker  parentage.  It  is  surprising  that  it  was  pos- 
sible for  him  to  acquire  the  broad  knowledge  and  clear  insight 
.into  the  wide  range  of  subjects  that  his  writings  and  inven- 
tions prove  he  possessed,  when  we  consider  the  poverty  and 
severe  struggles  of  his  youth.  He  was  removed  from  school  X 
at  the  age  of  thirteen  to  be  taught  the  trade  of  a  stay-maker 
and  he  was  afterwards^an  excise  man.  From  this  office  he 
was  dismissed  for  irregularity  in  reporting  on  importations 
without  actually  surveying  the  articles  but  in  his  petition  for 
restoration  to  office,  which  was  granted,  he  stated:  "No  com- 
plaint of  the  least  dishonesty  or  intemperance  ever  appeared 
against  me."  He  championed  the  cause  of  his  fellow  excise- 
men and  sought  to  petition  Parliament  in  their  behalf.  While  , 
thus  engaged  he  was  removed  again  for  "quitting  his  business,  / 
without  leave.''  Though  no  dishonor  is  to  be  attached  to  hiy 
conduct,  you  will  find  his  libelers  ignoring  the  records  and  stat- 
ing that  he  was  dismissed  for  dishonesty.  While  in  London  he 
had  an  opportunity  to  study  the  workings  of  Government.  He 
met  there  Goldsmith  and  Benjamin  Franklin.  The  latter  recog- 
nizing his  ability,  induced  him  to  go  to  America,  giving  him  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  his  son-in-law. 

Once  in  America,  Paine's  inborn  love  of  liberty,  his  almosV 
quixotic  desire  to  right  every  wrong  that  afflicted  mankind  was 
roused  into  action  by  the  opportunity  the  discontent  of  the  Am- 
erican Colonies  against  Great  Britain  afforded.  Let  me,  from  his 
writings  take  extracts  to  show  how  his  mind  worked,  stirred 
by  his  heart  beating  for  his  fellow  men,  yet  always  controlled 
by  logic   and  almost   mathematical   exactness   to   the   laws   of 
justice.     He  writes  in  First  Principles  of  Govermnent:  "It  is  by( 
tracing  things  to  their  origin  that  we  learn  to  understand  thorn  ;< 
and  it  is  by  keeping  that  line  and  that  origin  always  in  view  that  , 
we  never  forget  them,"  and  again,  "Rights  become  duties  by  re- 
riprocity.  The  right  which  I  enjoy  becomes  my  duty  to  guaran- 
tee it  to  another  and  he  to  me"  and  "He  that  would  make  his 
own  liberty  secure,  must  guard  even  his  enemy  from  oppression, 
for  if  he  violates  this  duty,  he  establishes  a  precedent  that  will 
reach  to  himself,"  and  "when  all  other  rights  are  taken  away, 
Ihe  right  of  rebellion  is  made  perfect. '^7 

In  conformity  to  his  reason  and  his  fairness,  Paine's  first 


/  essay,  "Justice  and  Humanity**  was  an  appeal  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  throughout  the  colonies.  He  asks  them  "with  what 
consistency  or  decency  they  complain  so  loudly  of  'ittempts  to 
enslave  them,  while  they  hold  so  many  hundreds  in  slavery." 
yThus  he  was  the  first  Abolitionist.  He  soon  afterwards  partly 
drew  'and  signed  the  Pennsylvania  Act  abolishing  slavery. 

Next  we  find  him  writing:  "If  we  take  a  survey  of  ages 
and  of  countries,  we  shall  find  the  women,  almost  without  ex- 
ception— at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  adored  and  oppressed 
*  *  affronted  in  one  country  by  polygamy,  which  gives  them 
their  rivals  for  inseparable  companions;  enslaved  in  another  by 
indissoluble  ties,  which  often  join  the  gentle  to  the  rude,  and 
sensibility  to  brutality.  Even  in  countries  where  they  may  be 
esteemed  most  happy,  constrained  in  their  desires  in  the  dis- 
posal of  their  goods,  robbed  of  freedom  of  will  by  the  laws,  the 
slaves  of  opinion,  which  rules  them  with  absolute  sway.  Such, 
I  am  sorry  to  say  is  the  lot  of  women  over  the  whole  earth." 
Before  his  mighty  plea  for  freedom  of  government,  he  made  an 
appeal  for  the  lowly  negro,  and  he  sought  to  elevate  to  her 
true  station  the  better  half  of  humanity.  Two  principles  of 
.justice  he  armed  and  enlisted  in  his  army  of  principles.  One 
has  already  conquered,  one  still  is  fighting  on. 

On  October  18,  1775,  writing  again  of  Great  Britain's  in- 
troduction of  slavery  into  the  colonies  he  declares,  "when  I  re- 
flect on  these,  I  hesitate  not  for  a  moment  to  believe  that  the 

\/ Almighty  will  finally  separate  America  from  Britain.  Call  it 
Independence  or  what  you  will,  it  is  the  cause  of  God  and  hu- 
manity. It  will  go  on.  And  when-the  Almighty  shall  have  blest 
us,  and  made  us  a  people  dependent  only  upon  Hinvthen  may 
our  first  gratitude  be  shown  by  an  act  of  continental  legisla- 
tion, which  shall  put  a  stop  to  the  importation  of  negroes  for 
sale,  soften  the  hard  fate/ of  those  already  here,  and  in  time 
procure  their  freedom.''  yThis  was  the  earliest  anticipation  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  eight  months  before  July  4, 
1776,  but  it  was  more, — it  was  the  anticipation  of  the  Proclama- 
tion of  Emancipation  eighty-six  years  before  Lincoln  issued  it. 
.  We  glory,  as  well  we  may,  in  the  great  Declaration  of  our 
fathers  of  their  freedom,  but  if  they  had  coupled  with  it  the 
grant  of  freedom  to  their  bondsmen,  what  added  lustre  would 
have  enshrined  the  names  of  the  old  thirteen  colonies,  what 

8 


suffering  humanity  would    have    been    spared,    what  sorrow, 
blood  and  treasure  would  have  been  saved! 

Through  these  writings,  Paine  had  become  known.  Ed- 
mund Randolph,  our  first  Attorney  General,  who  had  been  on 
Washington's  staff  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  conducted 
much  of  his  correspondence,  ascribed  Independence  primarily  to 
George  III.  but  next  to  "Thomas  Paine,  an  Englishman  b ' 
birth,  and  possessing  an  imagination  which  happily  combined 
political  topics,  poured  forth  in  a  style  hitherto  unknown  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  from  the  ease  with  which  it  insinuated  itself 
into  the  hearts  of  the  people  who  were  unlearned,  or  of  the 
learned." 

On  January  10,  1776,  Paine  issued  his  great  pamphlet 
"Common  Sense."  The  unanimous  testimony  of  every  con- 
temporary of  his  proves  that  the  effect  of  this  document  has/ 
never  been  paralleled  in  literary  history,  Washington  wrote 
on  receiving  a  copy  *'A  few  more  such  flaming  arguments  as 
were  exhibited  at  Falmouth  and  Norfolk  added  to  the  sound 
doctrine  and  unanswerable  reasoning  contained  in  the  pamph- 
let 'Common  Sense'  will  leave  numbers  at  a  loss  to  decide  upon 
the  propriety  of  separation." 

Benjamin  Rush,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, wrote  of  Paine's  political  writings:  "They  burst  from  the 
press  with  an  effect  that  has  rarely  been  produced  by  type  and 
paper  in  any  age  or  country.  Gen.  Lee  said:  "He  has  genius 
in  his  eyes,"  and  "I  own  he  has  convinced  me."  Joseph  Haw- 
ley  writes  (February  18,  1776,  to  Eldridge  Gerry):  "I  have 
read  the  pamphlet,  entitled,  'Common  Sense,  Addressed  to  the 
Inhabitants  of  America,'  and  every  sentiment  has  sunk  into  my 
well-prepared  heart."  Franklin  said :  "It  has  had  a  prodigious 
effect.''  Ramsay  the  historian  said:  "He  deserves  a  statue  of 
gold."  John  Adams  writes  to  his  wife :  "I  sent  you  a  pamphlet 
entitled  'Common  Sense,'  written  in  vindication  of  doctrines, 
which  there  is  reason  to  expect,  that  the  further  encroachments 
of  tyranny  and  depredations  of  oppression  will  soon  mal^e  the 
common  faith."  That  brilliant  woman,  after  the  receipt  of  the 
pamphlet,  wrote :  "  'Common  Sense/  like  a  ray  of  revelation, 
has  come  in  season  to  clear  our  doubts  and  fix  our  choice." 
John  Winthrop  said:  "If  Congress  should  adopt  its  sentiments, 
*  it  would  satisfy  the  people."  "Colonel  Gadsden  brought  the 

9 


first  copy  of  'Common  Sense'  into  Congress  March  8th,"  says 
Hazelton  in  his  late  history,  "and  .boldly  declared  himself  in 
favor  of  Independence.''  The  members  had  no  thought  of  it  and 
his  statement  came  like  an  "explosion  of  thunder/'  Adam's 
"Life  of  Gallatin"  says:  "It  is  now  almost  forgotten  that 
Thomas  Paine  in  1787,  before  he  went  to  Paris,  was  a  fashion- 
able member  of  society,  admired  and  courted  as  the  greatest 
literary  genius  of  the  day."  Samuel  Adams  wrote  to  Paine  :• 
"Your  'Common  Sense'  and  your  'Crisis'  unquestionably  awaked 
the  public  mind  and  led  the  people  loudly  to  call  for  a  declara- 
tion of  our  national  independence.  I  therefore  esteem  you  as 
a  warm  friend  to  the  liberty — and  lasting  welfare  of  the  human 


race." 


James  Madison  wrote  Washington  concerning  Paine: 
"Should  it  finally  appear  that  the  merits  of  the  man,  whose 
writings  have  so  much  contributed  to  infuse  and  foster  the 
spirit  of  Independence  in  the  people  of  America,  are  unable  to 
inspire  them  with  a  just  beneficence,  the  world  it  is  to  be  feared, 
will  give  u«  as  little  credit  for  our  policy  as  for  our  gratitude 
in  this  particular."  The  Constitutional  Gazette  of  February 
24,  1776  declared:  "The  pamphlet  entitled  'Common  Sense'  is 
indeed  a  wonderful  production.  It  is  completely  calculated  for 
the  meridian  of  North  America.  The  author  introduces^  new. 
/systenTofpoHtics  as  widely  different  from  the  old,  as  the  Coper- 


mean  system  is  to  the  Ptolemaic.  The  blood  wantonly  spilt  by 
the  British  troops  at  Lexington  gave  birth  to  this  extraordin- 
ary performance,  which  contains  as  surprising  a  discovery  in 
politics  as  the  works  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  do  in  philosophy. 

"This  animated  piece  dispels,  with  irresistible  energy,  the 
prejudice  of  the  mind  against  the  doctrine  of  independence,  and 
pours  in  upon  it  such  an  inundation  of  light  and  truth,  as  will 
produce  an  instantaneous  and  marvelous  change  of  temper  in 
the  views  and  feeling  of  an  American." 

Those  of  you  who  have  never  read  Paine's  "Common 
Sense"  have  skipped  the  Genesis  of  America's  Bible,  and  when 

study  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitu- 
tion  of  these  United  States  you  are  reading  largely  a  repetition 
f  his  thoughts,  an  embodiment  of  his  ideas,  the  execution  of 
is  suggestions,  for  the  plan  and  ground  work  of  both  he  en- 
ters  into  in  "Common  Sense."  He  suggested  the  method  of 


TO 


calling  the  Constitutional  Convention  and  many  of  the  principles^ 
therein  adopted.  Indeed  it  is  extraordinary  the  field  he  cov-' 
ered  in  this  famous  pamphlet  and  ideas  there  advanced,  often 
quoted  by  others,  have  been  credited  to  them  as  their  original 
thoughts.  For  instance  he  wrote :  "As  Europe  is  our  market 
for  trade,  we  ought  to  form  no  partial  connection  with  any' 
part  of  it.  It  is  the  true  interest  of  America  to  steer  clear  of 
European  contentions."  ^Washington  in  his  farewell  address 
used  nearly  these  same  wflrds,  and  it  has  become  a  text  for 
our  public  speakers  who  credit  it  to  Washington,  never  to  its 
real  author. 

By  letters  in  the  press  Paine  supported  his  first  pamphlet 
from  attack,  with  more  burning  arguments,  encouraging  the 
faltering,   stirring  the    dormant    into    patriotic    action.     Then 
came  the  declaration,  then  came  the  war.     "I  am  thus  far  a 
Quaker  that  I  would  gladly  agree  with  all  the  world  to  lay 
aside  the  use  of  arms,  and  settle  matters  by  negotiation;  but 
unless  the  whole  will,  the  matter  ends  and  I  take  up  my  mus- 
ket and  thank  Heaven  he  has  put  it  in   my  power,"  he  said, 
and  he  enlisted  in  the  Flying  Camp  of  ten  thousand  men  who 
were  to  be  sent  wherever  needed.     The  enlistment  was  a  brief      / 
one  and  when  it  expired  Paine  at  once  enlistd  again  and  was      • 
appointed  Aide  de  Camp  under  General  Greene.     Continually 
under  fire,  signal  acts  of  bravery  are  recorded  of  him.  Rowing  in 
an  open  boat  during  a  cannonade  from   Fort  Mercer  to  Fort   / 
Mifflin   is   one.      He   was   with   Washington   at   Valley   Forge. v 
Marching  by  night  and  day  he  still  wielded  his  weapon,  the  pen, 
so  much  mightier  than  his  sword.     While  bearing  all  the  bur- 
den of  the  soldier  he  wrote  his  Crisis.     It  was  read  by  Wash- 
ington's  order,   to   every   Corporal's    Guard   in   the   army   and 
those  bare-foot  and  disheartened  soldiers  listened  to  the  words 
not  as  coming  from  an  agitator  writing  in  security  and  seclu-Lx 
sion,  but  from  a  comrade,  whom  they  knew  was  bearing  the 
brunt  and  danger  with  themselves.     "These  are  the  times  that 
try  men's   souls,"   a  tried   soul   had   written,   and  their  roused 
spirits  cheered  the  man,  as  well  as  his  immortal  words.     I  can- 
not go  into  detail.     Read  them,  the  thirteen  Crises  of  Paine.  By 
Washington    the    orders    wrere    given,    Paine    inspired    his    fol- 
lowers to  obey.  . 
April  17,  1777  Congress  elected  Paine  Secretary  to  the  Com-// 

ii 


12 


-  5 


s* 

c  2 


Hi 


«  1!  "8 

.c   o 

**  c 

«4H  -O 

0       C 


M 

II 

M 


mittee  of  Foreign  Affairs,  beside  which  he  undertook  to  report 
to  the  Pennsylvania  Council  intelligence  of  Washington's  army, 
and  keeping  up  his  literary  work  besides,  he  still  found  time  to 
write   constantly  to   members   of   Congress   on   many   subjects. 
.The  Silas  Deane  incident,  which  led  to  Paine's  resignation  of 
*4iis  secretaryship  of  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee,  though 
it  detracts  from  his  ability  as  a  diplomat,  which  in  fact  he  was 
not,  and  by  his  temperament  never  could  have  been,  does  not 
v    reflect  on  his  nobleness  of  character,  but  rather  brings  into  re- 
\lief  the  simple  truthfulness  of  his  nature.     The  whole  incident 
about  which  volumes  have  been  written  is  not  to  this  day  clear. 
A  million  lires  had  been  paid  to  Beaumarchais  before  Deane 
reached  France  and  six  months  before  Franklin  arrived  there. 
Beaumarchais  confided  the  fact  to  Arthur  Lee,  the  secret  agent 
of  Congress  in  London  and  also  the  fact  that  it  was  to  appear 
as  a  commercial  transaction  and  it  was  to  be  reported  that 
tobacco  would  be  paid  for  the  advance.     Lee  so  understood  and 
informed  Paine.     Beaumarchais  afterwards  attempted  to  actu- 
ally collect  and  Deane  tried  to  .aid  him. 

That  the  advance  was  a  gift,  was  to  be  kept  a  secret  even 
from  the  body  of  Congress,  to  protect  the  French  King  from 
the  charge  of  breaking  his  treaty  arrangement  with  England. 
Paine  by  his  oath  of  office  was  sworn  to  disclose  no  matter,  the 
knowledge  of  which  was  acquired  in  consequence  of  his  office, 
"that  he  shall  be  directed  to  keep  secret."  Concerning  this 
matter  he  had  received  no  such  instruction,  and  when  Silas 
Deane  rushed  into  print  in  support  of  himself  and  Beaumarchais, 
Paine  replied  stating  the  facts  as  he  knew  them.  The  French 
Minister  at  once  appealed  to  Congress  to  save  Louis  from  em- 
barrassment with  England.  Congress  summoned  Paine  and 
asked  him  one  question:  "Did  you  write  this  article?"  On  his 
replying  that  he  was  the  author,  he  was  asked  to  retire  from 
the  hearing.  He  wrote  demanding  that  he  be  heard  further. 
"I  have  obtained  fame,  honor,  and  credit  in  this  country.  I 
Am  proud  of  these  honors.  *  *  they  cannot  be  taken  from  me 
by  unjust  censure  grounded  on  a  concealed  charge."  The  sub- 
ject simply  had  to  be  kept  quiet,  Paine  received  no  further 
hearing,  Deane's  friends  moved  his  dismissal  but  this  was 
voted  against.  He  however  sent  in  his  resignation  in  writing, 
which  is  of  record,  but  in  spite  of  that  fact,  all  his  libelers  state 

14 


that  he  was  dismissed  but  the  truth  is  indisputably  as  he  stated 
in  his  letter  of  resignation :  "As  I  came  into  office  an  honest 
man,  I  go  out  of  it  with  the  same  character."  1 

Though  Paine  was  not  allowed  to  disclose  more  before 
Congress  M.  Gerard,  the  French  Minister,  knew  Paine's  power 
and  tried  to  retain  him  and  offered  him  a  salary,-  to  employ 
his  pen  to  impress  the  people  in  favor  of  France.  M.  Gerard 
wrote  his  superior  in  France :  "You  know  too  well  the  prodigi- 
ous effect  produced  by  the  writings  of  this  famous  personage 
among  the  people  of  the  States  to  cause  me  any  fear  of  your 
disapproval  of  my  resolution,"  which  was  to  retain  Paine,  but 
Paine  felt  great  repugnance  at  being  in  any  way  a  paid  writer. 
He  afterward  wrote  of  this  incident  and  stated :  "My  answer 
to  the  offer  was  precisely  in  these  words,  'any  service  I  can 
render  to  either  of  the  countries  in  alliance,  or  to  both,  I.  ever 
have  done  and  shall  readily  do,  and  M.  Gerard's  esteem  will  be 
the  only  compensation  I  shall  desire."  This  esteem  however 
he  did  not  get  as  the  wily  diplomat  took  offense  and  retaliated 
by  misrepresenting  Paine,  and  abusing  him.  Paine  however, 
at  once  published  the  offer  made  to  him. 

According  to  English  information  Gerard  himself  was 
personally  interested  in  the  payment  for  the  supplies  and  had 
private  reasons  for  resisting  Paine's  theory  of  their  gratuitous 
character.  "Whatever  might  be  thought  of  Paine's  course  in 
the  Deane-Beaumarchais  affair,"  writes  Mr.  Conway,  "there 
could  be  no  doubt  that  the  country  was  saved  from  a  question- 
able payment  unjustly  pressed  at  a  time  when  it  must  have 
crippled  the  Revolution  for  which  the  French  subsidies  were 
given.  Congress  was  relieved,  and  he  who  relieved  it  was  the 
sufferer."  Paine  had  lost  the  most  important  secretaryship  but 
his  patriotic  interest  continued,  though  he  wrote  to  Henry 
Laurens,  that  at  last  he  would  have  to  think  of  himself  as  well 
as  others,  and  he  planned  to  publish  his  writings  in  two  vol- 
umes. This  was  in  1779.  During  this  yean  he  wrote  to  the 
Press  that  if  Great  Britain  should  come  to  terms  of  peace  "to 
leave  the  fisheries  wholly  out  on  any  pretense  whatever,  is  to 
sow  the  seed  of  another  war."  This  man  certainly  had  almost 
the  power  of  prophecy.  In  1783  he  went  to  Rhode  Island  and 
carried  on  a  campaign  in  the  press  there,  to  induce  that  state 
to  pay  the  quota  allotted  to  her  by  the  Continental  Congress 

15 


which '  she   was   withholding.      Robert   Morris   and   others    in- 
.    duced  him  to  undertake  the  mission  and  saw  that  he  was  paid. 
I  have  lately  seen  an  unpublished  autograph  letter  of  Paine's 
written  to  Morris  from  Providence  in  which  he  states:  "There 
is  one  idea  which  occurs  very  strongly  to  me,  which  will  finally 
show  the  extreme  ill  policy  of  Rhode  Island.     The  fisheries,  in 
all  probability  will  be  the  last  and  most  difficult  point  to  settle 
in  a  negociation  and  yet  this  foolish  state,  which  has  so  great 
a    dependence    on    them,    is    creating    a    necessity    for    clos- 
ing with   the    best    terms    of    peace    that    pan    be    first    ob- 
jtained."      The    fisheries    would    be    "the    seeds  "  of    another 
jwar."       It    came.       "The    point    would    be    last    to    be    set- 
tled."    As  we  are  gathered  here  one  hundred  and  seven  years 
after  he  wrote  this  letter,  our  representatives  are   discussing 
/this  "last  point"  with  England  in  a  court  of  arbitration,  another 
'fond  dream  of  Thomas  Paine's.     In  his  "Rights  of  Man"  he 
records  that  Henry  IV.  of  France  whom  he  describes  us  "a 
man  of  enlarged  and  benevolent  heart"  suggested  such  a  court 
in  the  year  1610.     Paine  discussed  and  enlarged  the  idea  in  his 
writings.     The  year  1779  was  a  "year  of  poverty  to  the  man 
whose  writings  were,  the  while,  having  a  sale,  to  use  his  own 
words,  which  are  verified  by  the  evidence  on  every  hand,  "most 
rapid  and  extensive  of  anything  that  was  ever  published  in  this 
\/  country,   or  perhaps   any  other.     The   single   pamphlet   'Com- 
\rnon  Sense'  would,  at  that  time  of  day,  have  produced  a  toler- 
able fortune, t/but  he  gave  it    to    his    country    without  profit 
to  himself.     Finally  however  he  was  elected,  at  a  small  salary, 
t/Clerk  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  and  the  following  year 
1780,  Washington's  letter*  telling  of  the  distress  of  his  army, 
Paine  read  to  the  Assembly.     Five  hundred  dollaj^  was  then 
due  him  in  salary.     He  drew  it,  enclosed  it  in  "a  letter  on  June 
8,  to  M'Clenaghan  advising  others  to  subscribe  and  showing 
the  wisdom  it  would  be  for  the  rich  to  do  so.     The  subscrip- 
tion spread.     Three  hundred  thousand  pounds  were  raised  and 
the  bank  founded,  which  was  incorporatecTby  Congress  in  De- 
cember 2  ist  following. 

The  financial  power  of  America  is  now  the  greatest  in 
the  world,  as  her  rivers  whose  mighty  flow  exceeds  in  volume 
when  they  reach  the  seas  the  floods  of  other  lands,  but  the 
source  of  each,  if  we  would  find  it,  is  hidden  away  in  some  pure 

16 


unnoticed  spring,  starting  from  the  bosom  of  the 
the  clouds,  and  so  the  beginning  of  our  great  financi! 
started  from   a  pure,   generous  but  forgotten  act  that* 
from  the  patriotic  impulse  in  the  heart  of  Thomas  Paine. 

In  this  year  Paine  wrote  an  article  entitled  "Public  Good," 
in  which  he  showed  that  the  Virginia  Colony  was  wrong  in  its 
contention  as  to  publi(;jands,.  The  truth  and  logic  of  his  state- 


PAINE  HOUSE. 

House   built   by   Thomas    Paine   on    the   farm   presented   to   him   by   the    State 
of    New    York    for    his    patriotic     services. 

ments  were  admitted  even  by  Virginians,  but  later  the  politi- 
cians defeated  a  grant  to  him  by  that  state  in  retaliation  for 
his  pointing  out  the  error  of  their  ways.  Madison  deplored  this 
refusal  to  reward  Paine  in  the  letter  to  Washington  from  which 
I  have  quoted.  Paine  also  this  year  wrote  to  the  Count  de 
Vergennes  in  France  an  account  of  America's  distress  for 
money  and  asked  for  French  aid.  This  letter  was  shown  to 
the  French  legation  and  led  Congress  to  appoint  Col.  John  Lau- 
rens,  one  of  Washington's  aids,  to  visit  France.  He  agreed  to 
go  if  Paine  would  accompany  him.  Paine  consented.  They 

17 


yfeailed  from  Boston  in  February  1781  and  returned  to  that  city 
^August  25  with  2,500,000  lires  in  silver.  Lamartine  stated  that 
the  French  King  "loaded  Paine  with  favors"  and  that  the  gift 
for  America  "was  confided  into  the  hands  of  Franklin  and 
Paine."  For  this  great  service  Paine  never  received  any  pay- 
ment or  acknowledgment.  He  conceived  the  plan  and  mainly 
executed  it,  for  Laurens  was  a  young  man  and  came  near  ruin- 
ing the  venture  by  an  imprudent  advocacy,  of  which  Vergennes 
complained,  while  ascribing  it  to  his  inexperience. 

Pennsylvania  gave  Paine  $2,500,  Congress  $3,800,  and  New 
York  this  farm  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  acres.  Wash- 
ington wrote  to  Richard  H.  Lee  and  Madison  "unsolicited  by 
and  unknown  to  Mr.  Paine''  as  he  states,  in  behalf  of  a  grant 
by  Virginia  to  Paine.  "His  services,"  he  wrote,  "hitherto  have 
past  unnoticed  *  *  Does  not  common  justice  then  point  to 
some  compensation?"  It  is  not  possible  to  understand  the 
value  of  Paine's  labors  at  this  day.  His  writings  read  even  yet, 
stir  the  heart  and  inflame  the  imagination  of  an  American.  But 
the  best  evidence  of  their  great  yalue  is  the  unequivocal  and 
unanimous  testimony  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  times.  Frank- 
lin put  into  his  hands  much  material  which  that  great  charac- 
ter had  gathered  and  asked  him  to  write  a  history  of  our  Revo- 
lution. This  data  and  Paine's  own  collection  of  letters,  which 
were  the  result  of  a  correspondence  with  all  the  great  men  of 
England,  France  and  America  during  most  momentous  times, 
jwas  destroyed  by  fire  years  afterward  at  St.  Louis.  What  a 
cruel  loss  was  this!  What  secrets  were  confided  then  to  flames, 
of  which  we  speak  in  metaphor  as  having  tongues.  Ah,  what 
a  misnomer!  Such  tongues  can  never  talk  and  in  this  case 
they  have  stricken  history  dumb. 

It  is  not  within  my  text  to  refer  to  Paine's  inventive  genius ; 
this  intimancy  with  the  early  experimenters  in  s^team  naviga- 
tion; his  priority  of  suggestion  and  his  acquaintance  with 
Henry  and  Fulton  and  Livingston;  his  letter  on  "the  terms 
attraction  of  cohesion,"  which  anticipated  modern  thought ;  his 
iron  bridge;  his  planing  machine.  As  the  turbine  principle  of 
application  of  steam  to  the  wheel  in  the  steamboat  was  his 
idea  of  the  proper  theory,  so  always  his  thoughts  seemed  to 
jrun  way  beyond  his  age.  In  a  letter  to  Jefferson  in  1801,  he 
discusses  "for  amusement"  the  means  of  generating  motion  for 

18 


mechanical  uses  and  writes :  "The  thing  wanted  is  something 
to  contain  the  greatest  quantity  of  power  in  the  least  quantity 
of  weight,  *  *  if  the  power  which  an  ounce  of  gun  powder  con- 
tains could  be  detailed  out  so  as  to  act  with-  equal  force  thro' 
a  given  time  as  steam  or  water  can  be,  it  would  be  a  most!/ 
commodious  natural  power  because  of  its  small  weight  and 
little  bulk  *  *  might  not  gun  powder  be  mixed  with  some  other  ' 


Rear   view  of   Paine   House   since   it's   removal   to   a   spot  within   a   few   yards 
of    Paine's    grave. 

material?"     The  explosive  engines,  which  now  drive  machinesX 
over  highways  and  waters  and  through  the  air,  are  the  perfec-  \ 
tion   of   Paine's   explosive  power.      Gun   powder  was   the  only 
familiar  substance,  and  to  others  it  represented  only  an  agent 
of  war,  but  Paine  writes :  "When  I  consider  the  wisdom  of  Na- 
ture I  must  think  that  she  endowed  matter  with  this  extraor- 
dinary property  for  other  purposes  than  that  of  destruction."! 
For  his  confidence   in   her  beneficence   Nature   seems   to   have 
whispered  to  him  her  secrets  as  Time  unrolled  to  his  discerning 
thoughts,  tales  she  meant  not  to  disclose  to  others  for  ages. 

19 


America  was  free.  Paine  was  unembarrassed  by  pecuniary 
ants,  "A  fashionable  member  of  society  admired  and  courted 
as  the  greatest  literary  light  of  his  day."  But  the  world  was 
his  country  and  he  must  be  ever  stirring  in  its  cause.  He  went 
to  England  and  became  intimate  with  Burke,  America's  friend, 
and  with  many  men  in  public  life.  He  then  went  to  Paris. 
The  French  Revolution  came  on,  he  believed  it  would  be  pro- 
ductive of  good.  "I  have  seen  enough  of  war  to  wish  it  might 
never  more  have  existence  in  the  world,"  he  wrote  Jefferson. 
Burke  wrote  a  pamphlet  against  the  French  Revolution  and  in 
favor  of  monarchy.  Paine  took  up  his  pen  to  reply  and  began 

^is  "Rights  of  Man."  "From  the  part  Burke  took  in  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  it  was  natural  I  should  consider  him  a  friend 
of  mankiiul.''  "The  Rights  of  Man"  is  one  of  Paine's  great 
master-pOTes,  full  of  wisdom  and  originality,  it  cuts  to  the 
quick  the  Hereditary  aristocracy.  "There  never  did,  there  never 
will,  and  there  cannot  exist  a  Parliament  of  any  description  of 
men  or  any  generation  of  men  in  any  country,  possessed  of  the 
right  or  the  power  of  binding  and  controlling  posterity  to  the 
end  of  time  *  *  I  am  not  contending  for  or  against  any  form  of 
government,  nor  for  nor  against  any  party,  here  or  elsewhere. 

ZxThat  which  a  whole  nation  chooses  to  do,  it  has  a  right  to 
do!"  -Rousseau's  writings  had  been  studied  by  Paine  as  they 
had  by  most  of  the  founders  of  this  republic,  as  is  evinced  by 

,  numerous  references  found  in  the  letters  and  documents  of  the 
times.  But  the  "  'Rights  of  Man'  was  the  earliest  complete 

\\ statement  of  republican  principles"  in  Mr.  Conway's  opinion. 

England  has  since  enacted  into  her  laws  some  of  the  recom- 
mendations it  contained. 

England  was  in  an  uproar.  By  direction  of  the  authorities 
the  book  was  burned,  its  author  also  in  effigy.  The  publisher 
was  arrested  and  was  to  be  tried  for  sedition.  The  hereditary 
title  holders  immediately  called  meetings  to  denounce  Paine 
and  his  publisher.  In  one  instance  a  Lord  Onslow  presided 
over  a  meeting  of  the  gentry,  he  was  a  bed-chamber  Lord,  a 
sinecure  paying  1,000  pounds  with  a  pension  of  3,000  pounds. 
Paine  sent  to  the  meeting  a  hundred  copies  of  his  book  and 
as  an  illustration  of  the  severity  and  cutting  nature  of  his  at- 
tacks when  roused,  let  me  quote  an  abstract  from  his  letter 
to  Lord  Onslow:  "What  honor  or  happiness  you  can  derive 

20 


from  being  the  principal  pauper  of  the  neighborhood  and  oc- 
casioning a  greater  expense  than  the  poor,  the  aged,  and  the 
infirm  for  ten  miles  round,  I  leave  you  to  enjoy.  At  the  same 
time  I  can  see  that  it  is  no  wonder  you  should  be  strenuous 
in  suppressing  a  book  which  strikes  at  the  root  of  these  abuses." 
But  while  royalty  was  aghast,  the  people  sang: 

"God  save  the  Rights  of  Man! 
Give  him  a  heart  to  scan 

Blessings  so  dear 
Let  them  be  spread  around, 
Wherever  Man  is  found, 
And  with  the  welcome  sound 
Ravish  his  ear! 

God  save  great  Thomas  Paine, 
His  Rights  of  Man  proclaim 
From  pole  to  pole." 

But  France  called  him,  he  crossed  the  Channel  and  three  %/ 
departments  elected  him  to  represent  them  in  the  convention. 
I/  have  mentioned  his  heroic  stand  to  save  the  life  of  Louis  XVI. 
theKing,"  he  said,  "but  save  the   Man."     Gouverneur 


-^ 

Morris  was  the  American  minister  to  France  ;  it  is  a  long  story, 
how  his  secret  instructions  conflicted  with  Paine's  hearty  and 
open  love  for  America's  ally,  how  Morris  virtually  acquiesced 
in  his  imprisonment  by  Robespierre,  as  a  foreigner,  and  how 
Morris  misled  Washington  to  believe  he  had  demanded  Paine's 
-  an  American,  how  he  misled  Paine  to  believe  that 
Washington  had  given  no  directions  that  Paine  be  so  reclaimed. 
These  cruel  subterfuges,  on  Morris's  part,  led  Paine  after-  j 
wards  to  write  his  severe  and  regrettable  letter  to  Washington, 
who  received  it  without  understanding  why  it  was  addressed 
to  him.  So  that  these  two  great  and  good  men,  who  had 
fought  and  worked  in  confidence  and  side  by  side  for  humanity, 
died  misunderstanding  each  other,  each  distressed  and  puzzled 
at  the  other's  conduct.  Paine  trusted  Morris  but  the  truth  .was 
as  he  said  :  "A  treacherous  friend  in  power  is  the  most  danger- 
ous of  enemies."  For  nearly  eight  months  Robespierre  kept 
Paine  in  prison  as  a  foreigner,  although  France  had  with  enthu- 

21 


siasm  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  "citizen."  In  England  he 
was  outlawed  for.  his  "Rights  of  Man/'  written  in  reply  to 
Burke's  attack  on  France.  In  the  United  States  of  America,— 
Paine  was  the  first  to  write  the  name, — his  title  to  citizenship 
as  the  same  as  Washington's  and  the  other  patriots'.  Yet 
the  great  apostle  of  liberty  remained  in  prison.  He  has  writ- 
ten a  description  of  the  awful  times.  He  tells  of  how  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight  persons  were  taken  out  of  the  Luxem- 
bourg in  one  night  and  all  but  eight  guillotined  the  next  day 
and  he  describes  how  he  and  his  three  room  mates  escaped. 
The  guards  used  to  mark  the  number  to  be  taken  from  the  dif- 
ferent rooms.  The  door  of  Paine's  room  was  opened  back 
against  the  wall  when  marked,  and  at  night  being  closed,  the 
mark  was  on  the  wrong  side  and  not  seen.  Robespierre  fell, 
Monroe  replaced  Morris  as  minister  and  he  bent  every  energy 
"to  get  Paine  released.  He  took  him  to  his  house  and  nursed  him 
back  to  health,  for  when  he  left  prison,  Monroe  wrote,  his 
health  was  such  that  he  could  not  live  longer  than  a  month, 
he  thought,  at  the  furthest.  "I. shall  pay  the  utmost  attention 
to  this  gentleman,  as  he  is  one  of  those  whose  merits  in  our 
Revolution  were  most  distinguished,"  he  wrote. 

Paine,  after  a  long  wait  to  recover  his  health  and  to  avoid 
England's  patrolling  fleet  in  the  Channel,  returned  to  America. 
In  the  meantime,  while  under  the  shadow  of  the  guillotine,  he 
had  written  the  First  Part  of  the  Age  of  Reason,  and  it  was 
while  hovering  between  life  and  death  that  he  wrote  the  Sec- 
ond Part.  He  wrote,  he  said,  primarily  to  stop  the  headlong 
rush  into  infidelity  in  France,  for  he  was  a  most  devoted  Dej^t. 
"Several  of  my  colleagues  have  given  me  the  example  ofmak- 
ing  their  individual  profession  of  faith.  I  also  will  make  mine," 
he  wrote.  "I  believe  in  one  God,  and  no  more,  and  I  hope  for 
happiness  beyond  this  life.  I  believe  in  the  equality  of  Man,  and 
I  believe  that  religious  duties  consist  in  doing  justice,  loving 
mercy  and  endeavouring  to  make  our  fellow-creatures  happy.'' 
The  lawyer  asked  Christ,  saying  "Master,  which  is  the  great 
commandment  in  the  law?  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul 
and  with  all  thy  mind. 

"This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment.  And  the  second 
is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On 

22 


these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets." 
It  is  not  within  my  subject  to  discuss  Paine's  religion,  but 
I  want  to  lay  these  two  statements  side'  by  side  in  your  mind, 
that  you  may- see,  though  others  have  called  Thomas  Paine  an 
infidel,  his  confession  of  his  faith  contained  all  that  Jesus  Christ 
said  was  essential. 

Paine,  on  his  return  to  America,  found  many  bitter  po- 
litical enemies.  John  Adams  and  his  party,  Paine  had  bitterly  / 
opposed;  Adams  was  believed  by  Paine  to  desire  the  establish-  J 
ment  of  a  hereditary  office  in  his  family,  and  both  Jefferson  and 
Madison  appear  to  have  given  serious  consideration  to  the  same 
fear.  At  any  rate,  John  Adams  was  fierce  in  his  attacks  on 
Paine  and  he  received  in  return  cutting  replies,  but  even  with 
Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe  and  many  other  powerful  friends, 
still  a  broken  old  man,  in  only  moderate  circumstances,  he  was 
at  terrible  odds  with  the  power  of  the  orthodox  in  religion  and 
a  great  political  party  bitter  against  him.  While  he  was  able 
to  strike  with  his  pen  he  could  hold  his  own,  but  he  had  no 
heir  to  protect  his  good  name  and,  as  I  have  shown,  his  reputa- 
tion was  simply  pounced  upon  and  destroyed  unscrupulously, 
and  since  then  each  thoughtless  writer  has  quoted  and  made 
more  blighting  the  slanders.  Mr.  Conway  has  at  last  refuted/ 
every  charge;  the  best  and  most  reliable  evidence  shows  that 
Paine  never  drank  to  excess,  except  once  in  Paris,  when  his 
friends  were  being  guillotined  one  after  the  other,  then,  after^ 
wards  lie  told  a  friend,  "that  borne  down  by  public  and  private)' 
affliction  he  had  been  driven  to  excesses,"  but  the  story  of  hisl 
dying  a  drunkard  has  been  disproved. 

Even  to  this  day  there  are  men  who  seem  to  be  unable  to 
do  .Paine  justice,  deeming  it  necessary,  apparently,  to  follow  cus- 
tom, by  neglecting  or  abusing  him.  There  has  been  published, 
within  the  last  five  years,  a  very  excellent  history  of  The  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  and  many  of  the  letters  and  statements 
that  I  have  quoted  may  be  found  in  that  volume,  but  if  you 
consult  it  you  will  find  that  Paine  or  "Common  Sense"  is  not 
to  be  found  in  the  index  until  a  reference  occurs  to  a  sneering 
statement  from  John  Adams'  biography.  There  are  fifteen  or 
more  quotations  commending  and  crediting  Paine  with  great 
power  and  influence,  even  one,  from  John  Adams  himself,  be- 
fore he  became  Paine's  enemy,  but  the  otherwise  very  complete 

23 


jndex  does  not  refer  to  them  and  the  author  makes  no  comment 
except  to  Paine's  prejudice. 

It  is  not  possible,  in  one  afternoon,  to  give  anything,  like 
^  clear  idea  of  the  greatness,  the  breadth,  the  nobility  of  Paine's 
life  and  works.  When  he  was  called  a  libeller  by  the  authori- 
ties in  England  for  his  "Rights  of  Man,"  he  said,  "Let  every 
man  read  and  judge  for  himself,  not  only  of  the  merits  and  de- 
merits of  the  Work,  but  of  the  matters  therein  contained,  which 
relate  to  his  own  interests  and  happiness.  If  to  expose  the 
fraud  and  imposition  of  monarchy,  and  every  species  of  heredi- 
tary government — to  lessen  the  oppression  of  taxes — to  pro- 
pose plans  for  the  education  of  helpless  infancy,  and  the  •.com- 
fortable support  of  the  aged  and  distressed — to  endeavour  to 
conciliate  nations  to  each  other — to  extirpate  the  horrid  prac- 
tice of  war — to  promote  universal  peace,  civilization,  commerce 
[ — and  to  break  the  chains  of  political  superstition,  and  raise  de- 
graded man  to  his  proper  rank;— if  these  things  be  libellous,  let 
me  live  the  life  of  a  libeller,  and  let  the  name  of  Libeller  be  en- 
graved on  my  tomb." 

Mrs.  Bonneville  said  to  the  dying  Paine:  "You  will  be 
buried  on  your  farm."  "I  have  no  objection  to  that/'  he  said, 
"but  the  farm  will  be  sold  and  they  will  dig  my  bones  up  be- 
fore they  be  half  rotten."  "Mr.  Paine,"  she  replied,  "have  qon- 
fidence  in  your  friends.  I  assure  you  that  the  place  where  you 
will  be  buried  shall  never  be  sold."  Paine's  power  of  prophecy 
still  proved  good  concerning  his  bones;  their  travels  and  fate 
is  an  interesting  story  of  itself. 

Your  society  is  now  carrying  out  a  part  of  the  promise 

made  to  the  dying  patriot.     Here  he  lived  and  here  a  part  of 

his  mighty  brain  still  moulders.     His  heart  is  lost  somewhere 

on  the  earth,  which  may  not  now  be  regretted,  for  living,  it 

beat  for  the  whole  world  and  so,  even  in  death,  it  happens,  no 

land  can  claim  it.     Ah!  well  may  we  cherish  this  spot  sacred 

to  Paine  the  Patriot.     Perhaps  his  dream  will  come  true,,  and 

jwhen  there  is  a  Republic  of  the  World,  here  will  be  the  shrine 

tof  all  nations. 


KETURN  TO 


USE 

WHICH  BORROWED 


LOAN  DEPT. 

^ers 

Renewedbooksare  subiectto 


LD  2lA-50m-8,'57 
(C8481slO)476B 


University  of  California 
Berkeley 


r 


TO 
•n 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFpRNIA  LIBRARY 


